Chapter 10

It was Monday afternoon and Anna was bored. Elsa was presiding over a meeting of ministers (boring), Kristoff was talking about ice with Mr. Microscope (boring), and she'd already had a conversation with Sven (interesting, but limited in scope). She was headed out of the castle to see if there was anything happening in the village when she noticed a flickering light coming through the window of a door.

As she came closer she heard the soft whirring sound of a treadle powered compressor. Looking in through the door's window, she saw Ruth sculpting a small unicorn from glass. The body, head and legs were already complete. A touch and a twist with a glass rod, a cut with the flame, and the horn was formed. A blob of glass applied to the back end and pulled out with tweezers, and the tail was formed. A smear of glass on the back and some tweezer work and the mane was formed. Anna waited until Ruth put down the unicorn, stopped pumping the compressor and shut off the gas.

Anna knocked at the door: knock-knock-knockknock-knock.

Ruth looked up and smiled. She was wearing goggles "Good afternoon Your Highness."

Anna started to open the door and Ruth jumped out of her seat, held up her hand and shouted, "No! Stop!"

"What?!"

"Did you read the signs on the door, Your Highness?"

"Well, no. I saw the flickering light and heard the whirring and wanted to see what was going on." Anna backed up and read the signs covering the door, " 'Danger! Hot glass looks like cold glass!', 'Danger! Hot glass burns', 'Danger! All glass cuts!', 'Danger! Open flame!', 'Stay Out'."

Ruth took off her goggles, stretched and walked over to the door, opened it and stepped out into the hall. "Up until last year, glass was more of a hobby for me than anything else. Now Dad has me help him with glassware if he needs something special. But look at my hands."

Ruth held her hands palms up and Anna looked. They showed the calluses and scars of numerous cuts and burns. "When I started I was a complete klutz. I had to wear gloves when I went to school to hide the burns and scars. And also to hide them from Dad. I don't get burned or cut very often any more, but I don't want anyone else getting hurt, so it's better not to let people into my workshop."

"Why don't you lock the door?"

"In case something really goes wrong. If the door's locked, no one can rescue me."

"Good point. I like the unicorn, by the way."

"Thank you Your Highness. Ceramic unicorns were a fad in Corona the first year after Princess Rapunzel returned, so when I started playing with glass I tried my hand at making glass ones. They're something of a warm-up exercise at this point. If you'd like it, I'll pop it into the annealing oven and bring it when we have our first session with Queen Elsa."

"I'd love it! Thanks! Speaking of Corona, do you have any intelligent animals there?"

"Intelligent.. animals, Your Highness?"

"You know, animals that seem to understand their owners, and seem to talk back?"

"Oh! Yes, Your Highness. But I really only know of two: Maximus, the horse of the Captain of the Guard; and Pascal, Princess Rapunzel's pet chameleon. They're both pretty smart." Ruth giggled. "Actually, Maximus is probably smarter than a lot of Guardsmen."

"Interesting. I'll have to introduce you to Sven. And hey! What's with all the Your Highnessing?"

"Um.. after the reception I wasn't sure..."

"Didn't your Mom tell you Elsa and I forgave you?"

"Yes.. but.. I didn't want to push my luck."

"Well, when your Dad's not around, it's Anna, ok?"

Ruth grinned. "Absolutely, Anna."

"Anyway, I'm headed to the village, want to come along?"

"I'd love to, but I need to build some stuff for Dad before Wednesday. The unicorn was a warm-up exercise, after all. But if you're at loose ends, I'm sure Mom could use a guide to shopping in the village. We need to buy winter gear, but we're having a hard time finding it."

"Didn't you bring winter gear from Corona?"

"Yes, but winters in Arendelle are much harsher than in Corona. Our biggest, thickest coats and blankets aren't up to an Arendelle winter. And evidently, a lot of the best winter gear here is hand made, passed down and accumulated over generations."

"Sure, I can help your Mom. See you later."

"Thanks. Bye Anna."

Sarah gratefully accepted Anna's offer of guidance through the village shops and had soon purchased the majority of the Morris family's winter gear. As they exited the shop where Sarah had bought three eiderdowns and arranged for their delivery, Anna spied a familiar snow flurry.

Anna grinned and thought, "Let's see how the chess master deals with Olaf."

"Let's stop here, Sarah. There's a member of the royal family you haven't met yet," said Anna as she pointed toward Olaf's flurry.

Sarah looked in the direction indicated and saw a small cloud dropping snow on a small snowman. That was leaning over to sniff a small purple flower. Sarah's jaw dropped as her mind went into overdrive. "Obviously created by Queen Elsa. Alive? Theological nightmare! How is it smelling through a carrot? What is it inhaling into? Princess Anna says it's a member of the royal family. Treat it as such."

"Hey! Olaf!" called Anna.

Olaf looked up, waved and called back "Hi Anna!" He started over.

Anna stole a glance at Sarah and grinned at the look on her face. "She may be a chess master, but she's no poker player," she thought.

Sarah's jaw snapped shut and her eyes narrowed slightly. "Olaf. So that's the philosophically disturbing 'olf' from our first night. Masculine name. Call him 'he' not 'it'."

Olaf arrived and introduced himself. "Hi! I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs!"

Sarah smiled at him, knelt down, and shook a twig-like hand. "How do you do, Olaf. I'm Sarah, and I enjoy warm hugs also. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Anna's eyes widened in surprise.

"It's nice meeting you too!"

"May I ask you a question, Olaf?" asked Sarah. "What did that flower smell like?"

"Oh, it was sweet, with hints of cherry and cinnamon."

"It sounds lovely. Do you think I should get some seeds for the window boxes of our cottage?"

"Probably not. They won't have time to grow and flower before winter. Maybe for next spring."

"You're right. I'll just get some of the cut ones for the dining table. Excuse me, Olaf, Your Highness. I'll be right back." Sarah headed for the flower vendor.

Olaf said to Anna, "I like her. She's nice."

Anna said, distractedly, "Yeah, she is."

"And quicker on the uptake then most people you introduce me to."

"Yeah, she is."

"Oh look, she's coming back."

"Yeah, she is." Anna shook her head. "Wow."

Sarah walked up to Anna and Olaf and gave Olaf one of the flowers she had purchased. "I'm sorry, Olaf. I've got to get home and start preparing dinner. It was, quite literally, wonderful to meet you." She turned to Anna. "Your Highness, thank you for your help with our winter preparations."

Anna said, "I'll come with you, Sarah. There's something I want to ask you." Turning to Olaf she said, "See you later, Olaf!"

"Bye," said Olaf and went off smiling, smelling the flower in his twiggy hand.

"What can I help you with, Your Highness?" asked Sarah.

"Can you not tell Alex about Olaf?"

"Ooh, I'm not sure that's a good idea Your Highness. We try not to keep secrets from one another."

"Please?"

"I really don't think this is a good idea. Alex hates surprises."

"Please?"

Sarah chewed her lower lip. "Nothing good can come of this... Oh, very well, Your Highness." She grinned, then said, "On three conditions."

Anna was nearly prancing with joy. "This will be so much fun! What are the conditions?"

"You can't hold Alex's reaction against him. Even if he calls Olaf 'fascinating'."

"Fine, no repercussions, no objections to 'fascinating'."

"Someone has to be ready with a chair or some other support to keep him from hitting the floor."

"No problem."

Sarah's grin widened. "And I want to be there to watch."

Anna laughed.

Dinner time was approaching, and Ruth was preparing to shut down her workshop. The last of the air dryer sections was cooling on the workshop table and she was turning off the torches when the door opened and a small cloud, dropping snow, entered the room, followed immediately by a small snowman.

"Can't anyone in this castle read?" screamed Ruth as she quickly ducked behind the workbench. Snow dropped onto the hot glass, shattering it and sending pieces flying.

"Hi! I'm Olaf, and I've been impaled!"

Ruth came around from behind the workbench to see Olaf with a large chunk of the air dryer's bowl embedded in his head. Which had been detached from his body. The hot glass was rapidly melting a hole in Olaf's head.

"Oh no no no no no! Queen Elsa's gonna kill me! Then deport my folks and send my corpse back to Corona in a block of ice!"

"Why would she do that?" asked Olaf as his body waddled over and carefully re-attached his head. He plucked the now cooled chunk of bowl from his head and carefully placed it on the workbench.

"Because I've killed.. her.. living... Wait, you're not dying, are you?"

"Well, I've got a hole in my head, but a little snow will take care of that."

"Then let's get to Queen Elsa and get you patched up."

Olaf led Ruth through the castle to Queen Elsa's office. While they walked, Ruth introduced herself. Upon their arrival, Olaf knocked on Elsa's open door.

Elsa looked up from her work and smiled when she saw Olaf. Then she looked more carefully. "Olaf! What happened to you, little guy?"

Ruth timidly peeked around the door frame and answered, "Um.. that would be hot glass damage, Your Majesty."

Elsa asked, "Didn't you read the signs on the workshop door, Olaf?"

"I didn't see any signs."

Ruth asked, "How could you not see any signs? They're right.. at.. Oy! Eye level! I'm sorry Olaf, you'd never have seen them."

"What do they say?"

"The gist of it is 'keep out'." Ruth turned to address Elsa. "Can Olaf be patched up?"

Elsa answered, "Certainly." And with a wave of her hand, Olaf's head was as good as new.

Ruth squatted in front of Olaf and asked, "How can I make this up to you, Olaf? Can I make you something out of glass?"

"Can you make me a snowman?"

"Sure! I'll make it after I make one more air dryer section tomorrow morning." Ruth laughed, then said, "Mom and Dad are gonna freak when they hear about this."

"Ruth?" asked Elsa, "Could you not tell your parents about Olaf? Anna and I want to formally introduce him to them after our first Lab session."

"Oh. Ok." Ruth remembered who she was talking to, then said, "I mean, yes Your Majesty."

Elsa finished enough of her work that she was able to have dinner with Anna.

Anna told her about her afternoon talking to Sven, watching Ruth finish the unicorn and shopping with Sarah. "And then I saw Olaf wandering around, so I called him over."

Elsa giggled in anticipation. "How did Sarah take it?"

"Elsa, it was amazing. When I pointed out Olaf to her, her jaw dropped and her eyes went wide. I called him over, her jaw shut, her eyes narrowed, and by the time he introduced himself she was under perfect control. She had it together enough to ask questions."

"What kind of questions?"

"When she first saw him, Olaf was smelling a flower. She asked him what it smelled like. Then she asked about growing some seeds in her window boxes. It was like she was testing his senses and intelligence! But in the nicest possible way."

"Wow."

"That's what I said. Even Olaf noticed that she was fast on the uptake."

"That's a little scary."

"Well, if she's a chess master, at least she's no poker player. Just watch her eyes. They narrow when she's scheming."

"That's good to know." Elsa looked disappointed. "But I guess we won't get to spring Olaf on Alex."

"Oh, but we will! I had to agree to Madam Foresight's terms, but I think the meeting will be 'fascinating'."

A/N - Thanks again to PascalDragon, who wanted to read about Ruth's meeting with Olaf. That scene originally didn't exist, but it was fun enough to incorporate in a revised Chapter 10.